


The light of a child

by AzureRegulus



Series: Chaldea Times [3]
Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26463808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureRegulus/pseuds/AzureRegulus
Summary: The days passed in Chaldea.Barely awake and away from his desk, the husband of the huntress of Arcadia, Crio, a greek Servant with wild white hair resembling a lion's mane and eyes blue as the ocean, walked the halls of the institue by himself, drowned in his thoughts.But with one step he took, the pitiful whimpers of a child reached his heart, tearing him from his thoughts. Once he opened the door......he felt himself breaking at the sight of a small assassin curled under a blanket.
Relationships: Atalanta | Archer of Red & Original Servant
Series: Chaldea Times [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920625





	The light of a child

“Shhhh…It’s okay Jack. No one will hurt you…”.

That was what Crio whispered to the small Assassin in his arms.

In the middle of the night with most people and Servants asleep, the male with a wild mane white as snow and eyes blue as the greek ocean sat in the lounge.

Tired.

He was incredibly tired, but kept himself awake by sheer force of will for the one that felt so miserable in that very moment.

Out the masses of servants, mostly heroes like the king of Britannia or anti-heroes in the form for Greece’s terrifying gorgon, there were a few oddities. Some were confusing. Some were breaking his heart.

Children.

Among all those great or bone chilling legends, there were child Servants. And one of those he had history with, curled up in a blanket.

Snuggled against his chest in the protection of his arms, Crio gazed down at Jack nestling against him, clutching his white dress shirt with her delicate hands, otherwise so experienced in dismembering.

London’s famous killer, Jack the Ripper.

A murderer known as a man with top hat, a twirled mustache with a twisted sense of joy from killing particularly women. His victims were known to have had their stomachs cut open and their wombs removed. The reason why was never explained.

At least until he met her.

That very murderer no one ever found out the identity off…

…holding onto him at this moment in the form of the little girl in his arms.

Walking the white, empty halls of Chaldea, reminding him of a monotone world devoid of feelings, he had stopped at the sound of whimpers from a door on his side. Immediately he had rushed inside, finding the girl curled up and crying from a horrible nightmare she woke up from, clutching onto the sheets for dear life.

Crio didn’t know what she dreamed. She was a sea made of the souls of countless killed children having suffered terribly in life.

Or having had no life at all, aborted before even taking their first breaths.

The dream could have been anything, and Crio did not want to imagine the sick and twisted things that happened in her life.

Some people always said that they were father and daughter from the hair color alone and bearing scars. Whenever he walked around with Jack, more so when having Atalanta or Alter at his side as she held both their hands, they seemed so much like a family.

Hours passed as he tried to soothe a sheer endless waterfall of tears. Taking a fuzzy blanket he found in her room, Crio wrapped Jack up and carried the shivering Assassin out of her lonely room to the warm light of the lounge. And since then, sat there on the couch, never letting go of her as she silently whimpered into his chest.

He was tired.

Deprived of sleep, strained, and more importantly…

…angry.

In his chest burned an uncontrollable rage and her tears had only been more fuel to the fire.

Why?

He asked himself that every night since the great holy grail war, why a child like her had to suffer.

“…Mommy?”.

Out of his trance, Crio softly whispered: “What is it, Jack?”.

She had the habit of calling everyone her mother, no matter the gender. At first he was surprised, telling her to at least say father or something if she saw a parent in him. The simplest would have been to just call him by his name.

But she always said ‘mommy’, no matter what, and at one point, he just gave up that fruitless battle with a defeated smile. There was no point in getting fed up about her desire to have everyone as her mother.

“Can you…tell us a story?”.

A smile on his face, he leaned back a bit. His left hand rubbing her cheek and right arm around her waist, making sure she was laying comfortably against him, he placed a soft peck over her silver hair.

“Sure. Actually, I have the perfect story in mind. A story reserved for good children alone.”.

He never was a father. He never could be. Through the torture he had to endure for Millenia, he was not able to become a father biologically.

And with a Servant as your wife, that was impossible either way. Not because his wife was Atalanta, the huntress of Arcadia. She was not at fault for that. Artemis freed her from the restriction she put on herself to tear apart what chained Crio his duties, making him her son and Atalanta’s husband. Atalanta could have stayed chaste and Crio would have accepted that in a heartbeat. To him, marriage was something much more sacred, a matter of the heart, not the body.

But even then, it was physically impossible.

What drew both together was the wish to save as many children as possible. That is why Crio swore for the children that felt so lonely, he would be the father they never had.

“Are you comfortable?”.

“Uhum…”.

“Okay. There is…a tale of a world that was once basked in light.”.

Jack’s eyes grew heavier at the sound of his deep, gentle voice he kept low.

“Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves and darkness was born in their hearts.”.

He watched Jack’s eyes slowly close. Her head nuzzled against his chest.

“The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people’s hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared.”.

The small ears listened to his calm heartbeat, the steady sound soothing her in tandem with his voice. Despite what sounded like a tale of people turning into monsters led by their greed, Jack was calmly resting on his chest raising and falling with every breath he took. The back of his finger gently brushed over her cheek of the peaceful assassin.

“But small fragments of light survived…in the hearts of children.”.

Jack’s lips turned into smile the moment she received another kiss on her white hair.

“With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It’s the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep withing the darkness. That is why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other.”, he spoke to her. Gently he traced the scar on her cheek. The sight of her having such a wound upon her face fueled his anger time and time again. He could not help but think every time his eyes wandered to her, that it hurt every day.

But even then, he forced the smile on his lips. “But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return. So listen, Jack. Even in the innermost darkness…there will always be a light to guide you.”.

Every time he stopped for a bit, listening to Jack’s calm breaths.

“Believe in the light and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away.”.

Leaning his head back, Crio relieved his heart of a heavy sigh. Slow, silent breaths of the Assassin against his chest assured him that the child was vast asleep. His hand, so large in comparison to her small head, brushed over her white hair.

“Sleep tight, Jack.”, he whispered to her. “You are good child. Your light can shine brighter than any star if you allow it to. If you…If all your souls had been born with properly, with loving parents smiling down at your first cries, you never would have turned out the way you did. You were forced to kill. You had to survive and grasped onto the only bit of hope you had, which was the warmth of a mother’s womb.”.

Making sure she was all curled up in the blanket, Crio gazed up into the blank white of the ceiling.

“But you are safe now. I will make sure of that.”.

Hiding his yawn behind his palm, Crio felt his own eyelids grow heavier.

“ Nobody will hurt you ever again…or else I will become a true monster this time around…”.

His head began to bob, heavy as if weights were connected to him. Having taken care of Jack for so long drew upon his last reserves he wanted to use for his tasks ahead.

The moment his head shifted to his left and his eyes closed…

…he felt the soft touch of folded lion ears on his cheek.

The tender feeling of the soft fur, a hand gently stroking his lower arm, speaking how proud she was of him, swallowed the agitation he had in his heart thinking of what Jack had been through; What he would do if someone would try to hurt her.

Giving Atalanta a soft kiss behind her, he muffled with lips on the fur. “And how long have you been here?”. “Long enough to hear that beautiful story of children reforming the world we live in.”, she whispered to his ear, her words like the soft strokes of a feather brushing over his skin. “Is that where your motivation came from? To safe children so they form the future?”.

“Partly…”.

A small, annoyed mumble escaped him when Atalanta decided to stand up. He had just gotten so comfortable with his wife near him that having his pillow removed had him opening his eyes halfway. The palm of her hand holding her wedding ring brushed over his cheek, watching his eyelids grow heavier again at the most delicate touch. “Come. It is time for bed, my love. Alter is already worrying because you still didn’t return home and the couch is not a proper place so sleep on.”, her voice lured the greek man to his feet with much reluctance from his side. He was already used to sleeping on a couch. But that was one of the reasons for the problems he had with his back.

If Atalanta weren’t around to watch after her husband, he would have slept there again with Jack curled up on his chest.

While he cradled Jack in his arms, Atalanta steadied Crio, always having an arm around his waist and her head leaning against his shoulder as they walked the empty halls together. Always with a smile on her face, his sun a mere cloud could never hope to overshadow as she gazed up him carrying Jack around. ‘That was exactly what I began to love about you. That very night our eyes met in that clearing.’. Fond memories bubbled up inside of her chest. The night he had become her Master in the great holy grail war, where she learned what motivated him to keep fighting. That night she saw his heart beat for orphans that lost everything, never had anything.

To avoid being set on the same path that both of them did. Her wish reflected in his heart and soul.

‘Those who hurt innocent children; Those who torture them, who feel joy from instilling suffering upon those poor souls. Those are the ones we fight against… even without the grail.’.

Brushing by his office, Crio glanced inside briefly, seeing the flickering light of his monitor. “Ugh. I forgot to turn it off…”. “Perimine ligo.”, she whispered to wait a bit with a stroke on his upper arms, rushing into the room and making sure everything was turned off. With a slide of his card key in the scanner, the room was locked, earning herself a gently peck on her lips. “Have I ever said to you how grateful I am to Artemis to have you at my side?”. “You can tell me that as often as you like, agapi mou.”, Atalanta answered her love with a giggle of her own.

And together underneath the blanket with Alter holding Jack close to her, her and Archer’s head nestling against his shoulders, Crio didn’t mind his arms growing numb from having both wives and child sleeping and taking his body as a bed.

As long Jack could dream peacefully, he wouldn’t mind staying up the entire night…

…but soon fell asleep at the soft song of calm breaths luring his consciousness away.

A new day would arrive.

And when Atalanta and Alter awoke, their cracked eyes open found a sight they could not help but feel joy over.

Protected with his strong arm over her, Jack smiled in her slumber, holding onto this shield, guarding her even in his slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> Jack...
> 
> Where do I begin with her?
> 
> Firstly, give her some proper clothes! I am so damn disgusted by her pretty much wearing nothing but panties. But this is Fate after all, so I guess we have to live with that. 
> 
> Looks aside, her end really tore away on my heart strings. I am pretty hardened to many things and do not easily cry, but that scene felt horrible, which is exactly what it was supposed to do. The only other time I was so close to was in Nier Automata and I will not explain why. Those scenes need to be viewed themselves and no words of mine would do them justice.
> 
> Also spoilers for the story. The game is that good.
> 
> The whole concept of Crio was that despite looking extremely intimidating, he has a spot for children that suffered like him. Being dragged across the sands by primordial gods, being formed into a weapon. I essentially created him in my mind with the concept of being a husband Atalanta could truly love; Someone who could relate to her; Someone to actually have chemistry with and not an idiot who lived for battle and wanted her for looks. He hates battling, but does out of necessity. 
> 
> And a child crying is a worst case scenario for him. 
> 
> He absolutely could not turn his head away from a suffering child and Jack is made up of a multitude of souls that...I really do not want to imagine have been put through, considering this is the old London we are talking about. How she had to go was horrible, when she said she doesn't want to die. With so many souls inside of you, I cannot imagine the amount of nightmares she must see at night.
> 
> That was the whole idea here. To give the poor child a family who embraced her.
> 
> Take care of your cute, little murder child.
> 
> Also...I would love to know who knows where the story is from ;)


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